Kingdom Hearts:Road to Dawn
by AxelsMemories
Summary: The tragic tale of an extraordinary Nobody and her somebody's reawakening. Broken promises, scattered memories and a changing heart. Set six years prior to the start of Kingdom Hearts and four years following the Events in Birth by Sleep, Road to Dawn takes us on the Incredible Journey of Eli Underwood, the somebody of Ex-Organization member number XII.
1. Chapter 1

** The Dark City**

_A glowing heart-shaped moon hung in the neverending night, and shined it's pale light upon the empty realm. Rain was falling down on the desolate and empty streets of the Dark City. Looking in the sky, one could see a giant white castle that seemed to be floating._

_Lexi descended out of a corridor of darkness, dressed in a long black robe, gloves and knee-length boots with silver trimming and high concave indentations on the top._

_She gazed into the hollow streets, watching the mist writhe through the thorns, creating shadows and creatures nightmares are made of where there was nothing. Silence hung thick on the air; not the peaceful, serene silence, but the silence of a tomb, or the aftermath of a battle, where death and darkness thrived and the living had no place._

_She could hear the whispers of hate and fear that hissed through the fog, ghosts on the wind. She could hear them call her name._

_Something in her recoiled, reluctant to set foot in the dark city. They were waiting for her, somewhere beyond the mist. Still watching._

_Filled with forebording she couldn't explain, she drew back, then stopped, angry with herself. Why this sudden fear? Fear meant nothing to her. Fear was the knowledge of pain, the awareness that you could be hurt, that you could die._

_She knew pain. Intimately. She'd welcomed it at times, because it meant she could still feel, that she wasn't completely heartless. What more could anything do to her body that she hadn't already lived through? She had lost her heart, hadn't she? And she had survived all these years with nothing but her instinct._

_"Lexi," something whispered through the thick fog, raising the hair on the back of her neck. She whirled, but no one was there._

_Stepping back once more, she drew her blade and stepped into the narrow street, feeling the mist coil around her as she stepped into the fog._

_A gray shroud enveloped her instantly, lit by the flat, even glow that somehow managed to darken everything. Nothing moved in the moonlit streets; all life in this city had once been swallowed by darkness and discord, thick fog sprang up everywhere, chocking everything out._

_The gravel beneath her feet was wet and solid, through the writhing layer of smoke made it impossible to see what she was stepping on._

_As she weaved through the streets, her blade held up and ready, she began to sense the wrongness of the city, right below her feet. The ground pulsed with hate and blood and despair; she could feel it, the emptiness of this place._

_She could feel her nobody nature rise up in response, cold, ruthless and angry. And, for that moment, she wanted to kill Xemnas for taking everything important away from her. She wanted to take her blade and plunge it deep into his chest, to watch the light fade from his eyes right before crumpling to her feet._

_Turning away, she struggled to compose herself, to stifle the cold rage ebbing through her. The darkness inside her was stirring, unwilling to hold back any longer, and the core of rage, like a spearhead, was directed at the Organization._

_"Lexi," the voice whispered her name again, and she looked up._

_She could see the bright neon signs of Memory's Skyscraper glowing in the far distance. She could see hordes of endless heartless and nobodies coming torwards her._

_Several yards away, barley visable through the mist, a ghostly glowing figure walked through the space between the lamplights, catching her eye and then vanishing from sight. Her breath caught in her throat._

_"Xemnas? Is that you?" She stepped forward, weapon drawn. "Come out and fight me like a man!"_

_Ignoring the voice of reason, forgetting everything that had brought her here, she followed the figure into the mist. Voices taunted at her through the skyscrapers, faint and incomprehensible, through every so often she heard them whisper her name._

_"Lexi," One voice taunted. "Lexi," Another whispered._

_She caught glimses of lone figures dressed in the same black robe as she, always walking away from her, just out of reach._

_She then charged into the open road, eyes burning with tears, as said tears streamed alongside her as she ran._

_Those tears fell onto the pathway of light, which were mixed with the raindrops falling from the heavy rainstorm falling above. The teardrops themselves were swept away by the rain, and she got herself ready for what she believed was her final battle._

_She started to shake. Not with fear, but with complete, all-consuming fury, and burned her throat like bile. She knew this place. She reconized where she was at last. It was here, on this spot, where she was born, and where Xemnas must die. This is where Xemnas summoned her somebody, a castaway from a world far, far away and tore her heart out._

_This was the place, a nonexistent world rejected by both light and darkness, where she was created from the remenants of a living human being with real hopes, and dreams._

_This was the place where she was given her name. It had all started right here._

_It would end here, as well._

_"Lexi, Number Xlll," Footsteps splashed behind her, and a cloaked figure came into the clearing, clapping faintly. "The Organizations first and only traitor."_

_The cloaked figure drew it's hood back, revealing a beautiful tan face, and gold crescent eyes. He glowed faintly, as if hot coals burned inside of him. His collar-length hair shimmered like strands of silver that would slice her skin if Lexi were to slide her fingers through it...not that she would. He was the enemy._

_He moved as if he were in charge of everyone and everything, seeming taller for it. His hair was styled in a layered, messy look, with a spike on top of his head, silver bangs falling over his eyes. His eyes, even across the distance, blazed pure gold._

_"Tell me, Xemnas." She asked softly, not turning around. "Who am I?"_

_"Why nobody, of course." He was smiling at her, that same old, empty smirk that showed the madness behind it, but otherwise their movements were the same, practically identical._

_"Your wrong!" She gripped her weapon and spun slowly to face him, feeling anger and rage pulsing through her like a rush of ink. The darkness was fully awake now, the icy barrior that had held it at bay, shattered._

_Meeting his eyes, she sprang forward._

_"Number Xlll, " Xemnas said, sidestepping her, his face never betraying his calm demeanor. And in a flash of bright light summoned his weapons. When the light faded to darkness, his gloved hands gripped two glowing lightsabers, but his eyes were empty and cruel, his face without emotion. "Have you come here to die?"_

_"I plan on living for a long time." She advanced steadily, calmly, the blade heavy in hand. "It's you who should be worried."_

_"Bold words for a puppet." The superior said, in a voice of quicksilver. "You are foolish indeed to come here. You let the darkness in your hollow soul guide you to enternal doom. The darkness pulls you by your strings, and vanquishes all form of common sense."_

_"The darkness doesn't control me, I control it."_

_"How interesting; the puppet has managed to grow a heart." He said, with a cold, emotionless smile._

_"I am not your puppet! I will never bow down to you again!"_

_"You were always so difficult." He said, raising cold, dead eyes to her. "But unfortunately I cannot stay to hear this touching speech...The Organization sends it's greetings." With a snap of his fingers, he summoned the deadliest of Organization Xlll._

_Behind him, hooded figures descended out of corridors of darkness, and laughed in union. They taunted and mocked her, only infrutrating her more. Some drew there hoods back, while others did not._

_She recognized Rank ll's eyepatch, troll-face and slicked black poil-tail and had to stifle the urge to step back and draw her sword._

_His head gazed over Xemnas shoulder, lips pulled into a vicious grin that was almost animalistic, teeth gleaming in the lowlight. His eyes narrowed gleefully, but it was the kind of mad glee that sent shivers through you, the type of glee that found humor in drowned kittens and poisoned cattle._

_Xigbar smiled at her from the dark passage, arms crossed to his chest, a demonic grin on his face. She spared a glance at Xemnas, and saw him backing away, into the mist, with a smile still etched on his face._

_"This is so like you!" She shouted into the endless night, stifling an attempt to follow. "Run like a coward, and watch the others do the dirty work for you!"_

_Number ll waved cheerfully...and stepped out of the portal._

_"Where do you think you're going?" Xigbar smiled, drawing his own weapons as he faced the startled Lexi. "The party's just getting started."_

_Movement rippled behind her. She spun, throwing herself to the side as one of Xaldin's spears exploded from another corridor of darkness, and lunged at her._

_She could hear their voices calling her name, clearer now and heard the snap of Xaldin's spear clashing onto the pavement, inches from her head. Backing away, she drew her blade, and slipped into the coiling mist._

_A feeling of dread overcame her, then. This wasn't what she had in mind when Xemna's agreed to engage her in battle. He had lured her out here, intending to ambush her from the very beginning. How could she have been so reckless? _

_This wasn't a fair fight. How could she, the youngest of the 13, take on the entire Organization Xlll? They were stronger, bigger and more experienced than her. And they knew it._

_Rose petals swirled in the soft breeze, making her blond tendrils lift and settle delicately around her shoulders. Transfixed by the beauty of it, she plucked a cherry blossom from the wind and watched it disintegrate to darkness in her palm._

_"Number Xlll," The breeze whispered, startling her. "The light shines within you. I've seen it, glowing faintly in the distance. So close, but yet so far out of reach."_

_A tall, elegant figure appeared out of the mist. The cloaked figure drew it's hood back, revealing a majestic face, brooding blue eyes and pale pink lips. Rose petals bloomed from his hood, and dropped at his feet. His hair fell gracefully over his shoulders, delicate rose pink, and ended in masterful ruffles._

_Marluxia stepped forward, and she raised her blade. Rose petals swirled around them in the warm breeze._

_He spoke again, his masterful voice sending cold shivers up Lexi's spine:_

_"Breath into me, and make me breath. Bring me into the light. Look at what I have become. I reside in nothingness. I am empty, like a hollowed tree. But not you. Never you. I knew you were special from the beginning. Teach me the secrets of immortality, and I shall repay you by sparing your life."_

_"I-I don't understand." Lexi stammered, lowering her weapon._

_He stood in place, rose petals sprouting from his hood. "Your aura. It's not from this realm. It's other-worldly. A world so far away it cannot be touched, it cannot be reached by darkness. It exists apart, in peace and prosperity, without magic or mayhem, without darkness or light. It simply __**is**__."_

_His pretty face hid ugly motives. "Obey me, and you shall live. Defy me, and you shall die. Choose wisely, for to lose is to win and win is to lose."_

_Lexi lowered her eyes, but raised her weapon in a readied battle stance. "I can't tell you what I don't know."_

_"I see," He said calmly, his face twisting into a mask of bitter hate, and summoned his weapon out of thin air. "Prepare yourself! For you shall drown in the heart-torn world of nothingness! I shall scatter your heart in the empty winds!"_


	2. Chapter 2

**Prologue : Lexi's Sacrifice**

_After a what seemed like a long, hard battle Lexi fell on one knee, exhausted but not yet defeated._

_Marluxia, grim-faced and determined, raised his massive scythe again, but a tall, pale figure slid out of the corridor behind him, raised it's hand and struck him in the back of the head. Marluxia crumpled to the floor, dazed, and the cloaked figure loomed over him with a vicious smile._

_"You're welcome." The intruder said with a hint of cockiness, placing its hands on its hips. _

_Roaring, Lexi flew at the hooded figure, but it sidestepped her, and slipped back into the corridor. She swung at the retreating form, and her blade clashed with metal, before the portal disintegrated into nothingness._

_She walked towards Marluxia, and struck her boot into the nobody's side, who in turn, let out a satisfying groan. "Jerk," She murmured, before retreating back into the coiling mist._

_Not long after her first defeat, a high-pitched, nervous laugh ripped through the air. Droplets of water floated into tiny bubbles hovering in the air. The bubbles seemed to dance._

_A misty figure descended out of a corridor of darkness, and rubbed the back of it's neck in nervous energy. The figure wore a black cloak similar in to Xigbar's, with somewhat closer-fitting sleeves and pointed shoulder pads, though this Organization member's shoulder pads were more noticeable than Xigbar's. _

_The hooded figure's turned it's back on her, and appeared to be talking to itself, leaving Lexi puzzled. "Ooooh," The voice wailed, still facing away from her. "I told them they were sending the wrong guy."_

_Lexi watched the cloaked figure in awe, wondering if she should just advance first and get it over with._

_"Now let's see here," It said, pulling out a notecard. "If the subject fail's to respond…use aggression to liberate her true disposition."_

_She cleared her throat._

_"Ahh!" The lowly figure jumped, startled, as if forgetting she was standing there. The misty figure threw it's hood back, revealing a youthful face, arched eyebrows and cyan eyes. His hair was shaved into a mullet, with soft tendrils of dirty-blonde hair falling over his face. He wore a silly grin and sheepish demeanor of gawky charm._

_"Demyx," She murmured softly. "Not you too."_

_"Lexi," He called her name, someone once her friend_—_but_ _now a stranger, "come back to us."_

_"I can't..." Her voice broke, and turning away, she resisted the urge to cry._

_He pleaded one last time, a broken, despairing wail of someone who knew what it felt like to feel._ "_Please!"_

_"I'm sorry." She croaked. She gripped her blade and spun slowly to face him. He paled, and summoned his sitar in a flash of blinding light and sparkling bubbles. She didn't stop, and he circled with her, his fingers lingering on the sitar's strings, held up and ready._

_For several moments, they stood there, staring each other down. Betrayal turned into rage. The rage in her boiled. Raising her weapon, she went for him, sweeping her blade down at his neck, a blow that would slice through his collarbone and out the other side._

_Too late, Demyx realized, he raised his weapon. Demyx didn't move, nor did his gaze stray from hers as she lunged forward. He didn't flinch as her weapon sliced down in a blur of gray steel_—

—_And stopped._

_"Why have you come?" She roared, startling him into silence. He blinked, and she sneered at him. "Are you here to exact your revenge on me for turning on the Organization? Or have you come to mock me on my poor attempt to engage Xemnas into battle?"_

_"Boss's orders..." Demyx gulped, clutching the sitar to his chest. "Please don't hurt me?"_

_Her hands shook, and the blade trembled against Demyx's collarbone, the edge drawing the faintest line of red on his skin. She was panting, breathing hard, but he still watched her, his face blank, and see could she her tortured reflection in his eyes._

_Demyx took a deep, careful breath and spoke softy, almost a whisper. "If you're going to do it, Lexi, do it now. The anticipation is killing me."_

_She straightened, bracing herself for the deed. But stopped, dead cold, as Demyx's eyes overflowed with salt tears. "I doooon't want to die!" He wailed, covering his face with both hands._

_"You big baby, take death like a man!" She growled, determined to end his nonexistence, until she saw the salt tears rolling down his pale cheeks. She sighed, lowering her weapon. "Fine. Have it your way. Prepare yourself for a one-on-one battle."_

_Demyx couldn't quite conceal his sigh of relief, as she backed away, weapon still drawn. "I could just KISS you! But seeing how you want to kill me..."_

_"Don't thank me just yet." Number Xlll's determination did not waver, In her eyes, Demyx was just another enemy, merely an obstacle in her mission. "I said prepare yourself!"_

_They sent the wrong man._

_This was the mantra that ran through Demyx's mind as the battle surged around him, a whirlwind of water and noise and his own cries as he desperately tried to keep his powers alive. But number Xlll's fighting was like a dance of its own, her weapons cutting through the cuneiform shapes that Demyx conjured with his sitar._

_The water scattered, punctuating the air like shards of broken glass, tiny droplets scintillating, turning the battlefield into a lightshow of rainbows before they rained down, becoming lifeless condensation against the gray stone. Lexi's blades glistened as she effortlessly glided through Demyx's attacks, water weeping down their intricate steel and stained the hands of their wielder._

_With one final blow, she sent Demyx to his knees. _

_"You were always a weakling," She grimaced, raising her weapon to deliver the finishing blow. "and now you will die like one!" _

_Demyx, battered and bruised, swung his sitar at her, and blocked her blade only seconds before it reached his skull. "You truly are heartless." Demyx's lips quivered. "I thought we were friends."_

_Lexi backed away, horrified. _

_Demyx, with a last ounce of strength, pushed his body upwards and stood. The friendliness faded from his eyes, and was instead replaced by a cold, unsettling hatred. _

_"Lexi, number Xlll," Demyx's normal carefree air vanished, and he silenced her with a much darker tone,"You may have won this battle, but you have not won the war." before stepping into a black portal, and fading into watery darkness._

_Behind his whitering physique, a hooded figure wearing a dark cloak descended out of corridor of darkness. The robed figure stood at the edge of the mist, pale and distinct. it's cowl was raised showing but nothing but darkness beaneath it's hood, she could its eyes on her, watching._

_Lexi braced herself for an attack, but none ever came._

_This hooded being walked towards the direction of the moon, going up a steep incline in the Dark City while doing so. He seemed to be crying, as water droplets were coming down irregularly from the inside of his hood. But perhaps it was only the dripping water from the rain above…_

_"You know what your problem is?" The mysterious figure said, gazing up at the moon."You're always running, but you go nowhere."_

_Watching the stranger, she felt a glimmer of recognition. This was the same presence she had felt in her nightmares, the one keeping out of sight, holding her to the dream world. And as her memory returned with the shattered pieces of her composure, she finally recalled that fateful night. The broken promises; the shattered dreams._

_"Why did you come back?" It asked softly, it's voice softer than the mist around them. She took a breath to answer, but the figure stepped forward and pushed back it's hood._

_The world fell out from under her. She stared, staggered in a way and frozen in a way that had nothing to do with the ice sleet littering the streets. _

_"Hello, Lexi," Axel whispered. "It's been a long time."_

* * *

_Lexi stared at the figure before her, hardly able to wrap her mind around it. It looked like him, sounded like him. Even after all these months, she knew the exact lit of his voice, the sublest tilt of his head. It couldn't be. But...it wasn't him. It's been so long since they last seen eachother, it almost felt like a dream._

_His piercing green eyes blazed with an intensity she's never quite been able to understand. She drank him in, everything from his unkempt red hair, past his straight nose and bronzed skin, down over his broad shoulders. Hidden behind his long black robe, she could make the outline of his hips, long bones, and lean abdominal area. Beneath both eyes, lay his signature mark: reversed tear-drop tattoos._

_Lexi's breath caught in her throat. "Axel."_

_"You betrayed the Organization..." He said quietly. Lexi could see him struggling to contain the anger in his voice. Something in him changed. He wasn't the same Axel she turned her back on months ago, the one standing before her was hurt and thirsty for revenge. He raised cold, dead eyes to her. "...you betrayed me."_

_She recoiled at the harsh meaning of his words. "Axel, I can explain..."_

_"No." He purred. "No need to explain." The sad smile faded into a wicked grin and he summoned his chakrams in a flurry of dancing flames. "I understand PERFECTLY!"_

_A circle of blazing fire sprang up from the ground and surrounded them both. The flames scorched her skin in the blistering heat._

_Lexi stepped back, preparing to draw her blade. "I can't beat you...Axel."_

_"I know." He growled, heating things up a notch._

_She was panting, breathing hard, but he still watched her, his face blank, and see could she her tortured reflection in his eyes. The blade trembled in her hands. "I won't fight you Axel." Lexi dropped to one knee, and bowed her head. "I rather lay down my life."_

_She waited for Axel to say something smug, to finish the job, to do anything but nothing. His expression softened, and he turned away from her. With a wave of his hand, he summoned a corridor of darkness._

_Lexi said, rising gracefully to her feet. "What are you doing?"_

_"I'm doing what I should have done a long time ago," He said, smiling sadly."...I'm setting you free."_

_"What?" She gasped, confused at first. Then, enraged as the weight of his words came crashing down on her shoulders. "You can't disobey Xemnas direct orders! The Organization will destroy you!" _

_"Nah, don't worry about me. I'll be alright." He winked; a sparkle settling in his eyes. It was a simple, reassuring gesture that spoke more than a thousand words. "I already took care of Marluxia and Larxene for you. Larxene doesn't go down easy." He chuckled a dry, throaty laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Boy. Did she leave a nasty bruise."_

_Lexi recalled the cloaked figure that swooped in and saved her life. One moment later, and Marluxia would have finished her off. Her eyes filled with unwept tears and her nonexistent heart lurched with joy. "That was you?" _

_Axel only smiled. Under his tough exterior, Lexi could see the pain he was enduring. There was a tint in his eyes, a strain in his laugh that told her things were not as great as they seemed. "Duh. Who else do you know that would openly defy Xemnas orders? I swear, that guy has a pole shoved up his ass."_

_Lexi rolled her eyes. It was SO like him to make a joke out of this._

_"Argh!" Axel grunted, and gave an uneasy lurch forward. He hurried to cover the deep gash on his left side, but Lexi saw it before he could. Her eyes widened when she registered the amount of blood smeared on his hands._

_"Axel!" Lexi cried, running forward. "You're wounded!"_

_At the sound of her voice, Axel's head shot up, and he shouted angerily. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get going! " He pointed in the direction of the corridor, while clutching at his side."The portal's that way!"_

_"But..." She started, but was cutt off by Axel. "Now!" He managed to choke out. Pain erupted from his handsome features, as blood flowed in torrents from the wound. "The heartless will be here any minute!"_

_Before she stepped into the dark hole she glanced back at Axel one last time, and bid farewell with a sad smile. "Thank you..." She descended into the corridor, and faded into darkness._

**... Kingdom Hearts ...**

_Shorty after Lexi disappeared from sight, Axel struggled to stay awake. In the distance_, _the heart-shaped moon glowed faintly_. _A coil of mist curled across the place where number Xlll once stood._

_He laughed a pained, uneasy laugh and lay his head to rest against the cold gravel floor. "Thank you, Lexi...for making me feel like I have a heart." He whispered and fell into a dreamless sleep._

**... Kingdom Hearts ...**

_"No," Lexi thought, "This isn't how it was supposed to end…" She looked up, and saw her opponent walking closer, ready to finish her off. He was a tall, scarred teen with cropped midnight blue hair, wearing a carbon black cloak that gave him an ominous air._

_His claymore glistened in the dying sunlight, mocking her in her last moments. He came up next to her and placed one knee on her body so she was prevented from running away. He raised his weapon, preparing to thrust it into the center of her chest._

_"I'm sorry," He whispered, his amber eyes glistening with tears. "I have to do this. You've caused too much pain. Goodbye, Lexi." Without a second thought, the familiar boy plunged the blade straight through her heart with alarming accuracy. Pain erupted, as blood flowed in torrents from the wound._

_"Why…?" Lexi managed to choke out. The boy gave her a sympathetic look before yanking his blade out of her chest, and getting up from his position. _

_"So this is what it feels like to die…'" She thought as black began to cloud her vision. She managed to catch a glance at the boy before her vision clouded completely. His picture perfect face was watching the sun set behind the clouds._

_"I'm sorry for hurting you…" Lexi said quietly. The boy turned away from the tragic scene, and ran off to the streets of the town below them. "Saïx."_

**... Kingdom Hearts ...**

_She stepped into its murkiness, feeling the dampness of waterfall mist on her skin._

_With her last bit of strength, she scraped her way along the barren streets. The hordes of heartless watched her slip, but she refused to fall. She staggered, a sob bubbling up inside of her as she felt her power escaping her, evaporating. Her steel blade lost it's form and dispersed into tiny waterfalls that cascade from her hands._

_Lexi's knees gave out on her, and she hit the ground, clutching at herself because it hurt—hurt all over, hurt behind her eyes and in her chest. She heard herself cry one last time, a broken, despairing wail of someone who knows what it feels like to feel._


	3. Chapter 3

**A Storm is Coming**

Two years ago, on my sixteenth birthday, I fell into a deep slumber.

No, I didn't die. If thats what you're thinking. Dying would imply gravestones and endless tearing, and bonquent of roses with cards of prayer stuffed inside. Dying would imply that I'd left for good, and that I wasn't coming back. None of that was true.

On my sixteenth birthday, my parents threw a big party for me, I invited everybody from school and relatives from faraway states. It was on a lovely little park in the middle of nowhere, with a running trail and a misty little pond.

My best friend and I were at the edge of the pond, pondering our futures, when I heard the faint whisper of someone calling my name. I lost my footing and slipped into the dark abyss. It would be another 10 months till I opened my eyes again.

For months afterward, I had a reccuring nightmare about standing on top of that hill, looking down and seeing myself struggle against the currents in that pond.

As the water closed over my head, I could hear the voices eco in the background, a slow eerie song with words I could not almost understand.

The water pushed down on me from all sides. Icy-cold water flooded in, my throat burned as if a thousand needles had been plunged into it. I desperately clawed at the water, trying to shoot to the surface while my lungs swamped with slimy liquid and my bones flopped uncontrollably.

My muscles relaxed and I was oddly calm for a moment then everything slowly faded to black. Before I'd fall into unconciousness I heard the voices call again_—_not my name, but anothers. Everytime I tried to listen to them however, I'd wake up.

**MY NAME IS ELI UNDERWOOD **In less than 24-hours, I'll be eighteen years old. The coming of adulthood. It has a magical ring to it. Eighteen is supposed to be the age when girls become queens and fall in love and go to dances and such.

I'll be able to flaunt my drivers license and exercise my right to vote. I'll be able to drinks legally and come home at whatever time I want. In a year or two I'll be off to college and build my own life from scratch.

The week before my birthday, my mom poured a cold glass of water over my head and told me I was invited alongside Aria's family to celebrate my Eighteenth birthday in some fancy resort on a Carribean island.

She rummaged through my dresser, threw all my clothes into five suitcases and called it a day. The next morning Aria, her family and I boarded a plane, and bid my family farewell.

Now here I am. Enjoying an Epic vacation. On a remote Island.

The crimson sunset was both bold and beautiful, playing a game of peek-a-boo behind white beds of cotton nestled atop the skies. The palm trees swayed and danced in the warm breeze. The evening music of birds and crickets chorused over the gentle strain of tinkering laughter.

A group of teenage boys were playing a game of frisbe nearby, throwing the disk between themselves and chortling in merriment. A women in her late 40's stood on the edge of the veranda, dressed in a white & over-flowing gown and watched in fixation as the whirling cloulds floated across the crimson sky.

I could feel the joy and felicity in the air. The soft sound of a snoring child and the chattering of the bikini-cladden girls as they laid their sun-soaked bodies to rest in the mid-summer heat.

I sat on the head of a bar stool, pretending to be thristy so I'd chat up with the cute bartender, but so far I'd had no such luck. It was almost like he was looking right _through_ me.

No boy has ever been able to resist me, but this one couldn't be any diffrent. It's like he saw everyone but _me_.

The boy behind the counter was devastatingly beautiful, with lilac starlit eyes and fair skin. Luscious violet hair cascaded down the nape of his neck and ended in loose tendrils, streaming out like spirals of smoke. His lips were blue_—_not lipstick blue, but corpse blue_. _

He had thick, tossled dark hair and uncut bangs that swept across his forehead whenever he glided between the counter and the neverending customers. His voice was rich and honeyed; a melodic tune as smooth as buttermilk.

"One virgin margarita coming up." He mused and got to work right away. He snapped out a bottle from the shelves and poured the clear liquid into a glass. He slid the drink down the counter in one smooth move.

I caught it without ever taking my eyes off him.

He had a pensive look on his face, eyes shimmering like an oil slick_—_strange glints of color in a black puddle. I waited at the front of the shop, invisible to only him, seated on the bar stool.

The vast ocean waves stretched across the endless carribean sea, singing the sweet symphony of sirens and windless calm. I sunk my bare toes into the damp earth beneath me. The brittle sand was cool against my skin.

The crowd dwindled until the only ones left under the Coconut Cavanna Hut were me and pretty-boy. He was just so damm gorgeous. I could tell we were gonna hit it off right away.

After he finished organizing the converts, he picked up a clean rag and wiped the counter top with it. I leaned forward on my elbows and took his hand in mine.

"My name's Eli." I smiled flirtaciously, and flipped my blond hair back. "And yours?"

"Not interested." He said, without even giving me a second glance.

"What?! Why?!" I shouted angrily, coming close to crushing the the glass in my hand. What was his problem? He didn't even give me chance to properly introduce myself. He didn't even take a good _look_ at me.

"Your type annoy me. I don't think I can handle all the pink."

A vein throbbed in my forehead. "For your information my favorite color is Aquamarine!"

He rolled his eyes, and sniffled an awfully rude "Good for you."

I was tempted to clear the counter and yank him forward by the tie, but I figured that be considered as assault in court. Instead I put on a warm smile and tried to play it nice. "Thats no way a gentlemen should treat a lady. The conversations supposed to go like this 'How are you feeling?' 'Fine, and you?"

"Just peachy." He yawned, and shot me a sly grin.

Did he just _tease_ me? No. No way.

I clenched my fists to my sides. "I wasn't asking you how your day was. I was explaining how to treat a girl. I don't know what country you came from, but in America, we treat girls with etiquette."

Pretty-boy glanced up from wiping the counter, seemingly puzzled. "Look, whoever you are, I've got work to do. If I give you my name you'll leave here right?"

I thought it over for a second and nodded. "Thats right."

"Zero." The boy's face contorted into a grimance.

"Huh?"

He hesitated a little before answering. "My name is Zero." And for moment there I thought I saw him flush a little. His somber gaze left mine and he went back to wiping the counter.

_What an odd name._

"Zero? You don't look like a Zero...You look more like a Demetri." I teased. Whenever he came near, I could smell the scent of decaying leaves, could hear the rustle of willow branches; a taste of frigid fall in midsummer. Suddenly I thought up of something. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

A blank stare. "No."

I couldn't help myself; I giggled. "Why is your hair colored purple? And what type of dye did you use?" I grabbed a chunk of his hair and studied it closer, startling him. I squinted my eyes at the amazingly soft texture and detail. "It looks almost...natural."

Zero slapped my hand away in disgust.

"First of all my hair isn't purple," A flare of anger flashed over his too-beautiful face. "Its black. And second of all, weren't you just leaving?"

I refrained from that last comment, and examined his handsome features closer. I reached a hand out to stroke his soft velvet crown and slid my fingers down his cheek.

He narrowed his eyes at me and my hand alike, but didn't make any attempt to stop me. I blinked several times before realizing what I was doing, and drew my hand back.

"No, your hair is defintely purple, but you're right, it kinda looks ebony. So your a natural dark violet, huh? Thats neat. I never head _that_ one before." I tiltled my chin to the side. "It suites you though. It makes you look kinda girlish. If I were a guy I'd totally do you."

Slowly, a rosy scarlet color spread over Zero's cheeks, making his face take on an almost childlike appearance. He quickly turned his head away, trying to conceal his reaction. "Thanks to you too...Eli...you look...er...pretty in that bathing suit."

"Aww, thats so sweet."

His next remark, however, was anything but sweet. He stopped me mid-sentence and pointed behind me. "We need to leave._ Now_."

The Sunset fell past the horizon, as a black haze fixed itself over the sky. Black clouds, faint at first, loomed over the carribean sea and erupted into massive whirlwinds.

Zero and I watched in horror as heavy rain came pouring down and engulfed the coast with oncoming waves. The faint cries of victims swept away by the strong currents grew louder and more incomprehensible.

Lightning flashes provided the only dim light on the somber evening; they were answered by roars of low thunder.

"It's a Hurricane!" Zero gasped. He swung his legs over the counter, and landed on his two front feet. Zero snatched my hand and yanked me along by the arm. "We gotta find shelter!"

My mind couldn't comprehend the type of danger we were in; I've never witnessed a Hurricane before and I was still in shock. I held him back, pointing at the Bar behind us. "Wait! Aren't you going to close down the shop first?!"

"We don't have any time!" He snarled.

We came across a shadowy hut. The wood was slowly and helplessly decaying away by the endless years of vacancy and disregard. As far as I could tell it looked like its been deserted for at least 20 years, but it was the only thing in sight, and there was no doubt in my mind that we wouldn't be able to stand against the storms currents much longer.

He exchanged a glance with me, unsure of what to do. "Should we go in?"

It was a dark and gray place where every floor board creeked with the voice of a hundred tortured souls and the shadows devour even the brightest light.

The paint was weathered and peeling off in spots, and the slats in the shutters on the upstairs windows were mostly broken out. A slight breeze made the shutters tap against the hose and the hinges squeaked.

I gulped. "IDK, it looks kinda sketchy. What if the roof collaspes on our heads?"

We were getting soaked as we stood and watched the long abandoned hut, thinking should we stay under the tree and risk getting hit by lightning or should we go into that old house, but we didn't know what could be in there, or if some one was in there. Then the storm decided for us.

Lightning hit the tree, filling the air with sparks. I screeched out a high-pitched shriek, and ran forward. "I'm gonna go with option two!"

We both dashed onto the porch and slammed on the door. The door screeched open and we rushed inside without second thoughts. The door slammed behind us.

I stumbled into the room. I quickly looked around, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Furniture was covered in plastic as dust floated around the air.

Zero slouched against a wall, gasping with mirth. Lean and tall, in his mid-night black skinny jeans and untucked dress shirt, he paused to look at my pale face, before fluttering his eyelashes to a close and speaking up again.

"We'll have to wait out the storm here." He said, wiping his cheek with the back of his palm. "It's not much, but it'll do."

His violet hair lay plastered to his forehead and his cloths clung to his skin, emphasizing his lean, bony frame. Being drenched and covered in twigs, leaves and sand didn't seem to bother him. It looked like few things.

I leaned against an old rickety chair nearby and shivered. Tendrils of blond hair stuck to my forehead, my ankles and legs soaked in brittle sand. I wish I wore more than a one-peice when I came to the beach this evening. My apparel didn't provide my body any protection nor warmth from the storm. Surely I was gonna freeze to death.

Suddenly, something reached around my shoulder and grabbed me. I slowly craned my neck to see the face of my apprehender.

A pair of glowing green eyes stared back at me. "_Lexi_," It said in a strangely familiar voice. "_Come back to us._"


End file.
